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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Book Smart VS Street Smart: Which one are you?

BOOK SMART- Book smart is an idiom commonly used to describe people who are able to succeed with scholastics, but tend to lack street smarts.

STREET SMART- Street smart is a term used to describe people that are able to survive without formal education.

Most of us basically fall into the first category right? However, we've seen some people who do not have higher formal education background are able to succeed in their respective fields. Sadly, the phenomenon in Malaysia nowadays is if you do not fall into the BOOK SMART group, you won't be successful in your life. I myself have seen some STREET SMART people succeeded just because they are so good with tasks on hands. Their teachers are their experiences. Their determination is far beyond the average people.

I can think of the best example of STREET SMART person that I've ever known was my late grandfather, Hj. Mad Said. He was illiterate and only managed to attend the school for two years! Well, he lived during the Japanese Occupation era when it was hard to attend any formal school. He started of his business with a small cafe (kedai kopila) in front of his house. Later on, he managed to have some kind of businesses too. After he passed away, his children and his grandchildren are still be able to get some income out of his businesses even though it's not that much.

WHY AM I BLABBERING ABOUT THIS BOOK SMART VS STREET SMART?

The reason being is as today the SPM result was announced, many students excelled (like my brother, Asul who managed to score 10As though not the straight A+) but there were still some who didn't achieve good results. For those who scored excellent result, you have so many choices to make after this. Now, for those who didn't score well, just remember THAT IT IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD. You also can make a lot of choices.

I always consider myself as BOOK SMART (bear in your mind that I was only an average student) and at the same time, I have a little bit of experiences in being a STREET SMART due to some circumstances. THUS, it's better to have a mixture of both!

Nur - wooow a BIG congrats to your brother for his excellent result. Dia plan nak lanjutkan study dlm bidang apa next? I am sure his future will be bright no matter what he chooses.

I tak sure I masuk in which category...maybe sikit-sikit book smart kot but I didn;t fully utilize it coz jadi full time housewife with MBA. Sayang sebenarnya...but I choose to be with the girls...so gini lah jadinya :))